The ministry of China trade said on Saturday that it is considering exempting some Nexperia chips from an export ban to Europe imposed amid a dispute with Dutch authorities that has alarmed the automotive sector.
This global supplier of electronic components is at the center of a standoff between China and the Netherlands that has automakers fearing a chip shortage.
“We will comprehensively consider the actual situation of companies and grant exemptions to exports that meet the criteria,” a commerce ministry spokesperson said in a statement.
The chipmaker’s resumption of shipments is part of a trade agreement between the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, and his American counterpart, Donald Trumpfollowing talks in South Korea on Thursday, reported the Wall Street Journal citing anonymous sources.
The company, based in the Netherlands, was acquired in 2018 by a Chinese company. But at the end of September, citing national security reasons, the Dutch government took de facto control of Nexperia.
Beijing then banned re-exports of the company’s products from China to Europerapidly increasing the concerns of car manufacturers, who massively use Nexperia chips in their electronic systems.
Nexperia It produces relatively simple technologies such as diodes, voltage regulators and transistors that are nonetheless crucial for that industry.
The chips are primarily used in automobiles, but also in a wide range of industrial components, as well as consumer and mobile electronics.
